The Frivolous Socialist
Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)
On The Importance of Being Earnest
Geoffrey Hamilton
November 15, 1995
Oscar Wilde had the good fortune of being born into an age when writers could name their
characters as they would describe them in a story (Miss Featherstone - caring but tough).
In a period which would consider a name telling because of this literary habit,
the name Wilde probably did more to spread his 'wild' side than could all his writing
about the welfare of humanity show his caring side. This is no sad commentary on
society or on Wilde's abilities, it instead leads to evidence of his genius: that
he knew of this human characteristic and could accommodated it in a way that could, at the
same time, poke fun at it, as well as bring his do-it-yourself socialism to
light. (Given how ineffective charity and welfare are at eleaviating the long term
causes and symtoms of poverty his aim has great relevence.) Earnest, or I should say,
The Importance of Being Earnest is his most popular,
and therefore most successful,
attempt at doing this. And it is no accident that for the characters in the play,
a name, in this case Earnest, is what holds more of their attention than the welfare
of their own lives.
St. John Harkin, dramatist and acquaintance of Wilde's, claimed Wilde's
plays "were frankly manufactured to meet a demand and too earn money.... He loved
luxury and luxury cannot be had for nothing." This rather one dimensional view
of Wilde is not possible to deny, except to say that, outside of some poorly wrought
characters in a play, people tend to have many motivations when they do things.
With something as demanding as writing, every decision cannot be motivated solely by money.
Wilde did not take an oath of asceticism, so
his desire for socialism and personal wealth does not smack of hypocrisy or conflict with other
motivations; he could still be motivated to want other's lives to be better
and to do so simply by commenting on the physical and intellectual poverty
of his world. In fact, not only had he no reason to be ashamed
of his frivolous luxury it was incorporated into the depths of his work.
Oscar Wilde took his life as an exemplar. He
claimed those people who despise superficiality are themselves being superficial.
Meaning that no one and nothing is above a need for exploration. He says, "The
perfect man does nothing beyond gazing at the universe."
He called himself frivolous and idle but this was just self flattery
in the form of self deprecation. He emulates his perfect man by deed and not by
word, "the best action is that which is never done." He was constantly writing
in the five years before his jail stint and once had three plays running in Soho
at the same time. But it was his social life that would have exhausted the most fit workaholic.
His writing was by all accounts the least of his accomplishments. He
phrased it this way, "...I've put my genius into my life; I've put my talent into my work." and "An artist's mission is to live
the complete life; success is an episode." It is through this understanding
of life that he sees the way out for society. He believed that it is through
the individual's development of the self that social ills will be solved. It
is useless, he says, to interfere in peoples lives with charity, for like the
Stoics and Taoists he believed that, "...cooperation in public life must not
be actuated by any desire to benefit mankind, since it can never be known whether
the benefits conferred are the true ones. People must be concerned with their
own virtues".
It is noteworthy to mention that some of the most notorious figures
in history were spotless in their private lives, but when they reached beyond
the bounds of there own virtues, in order to give it to others, that was when
they caused the great horrors ( Robespierre, Lenin ). It is his own life and his Earnest which offers the 'virtue' - do as I say, not as I do .
The worst thing that can be said of The Importance of Being Earnest
is not that it is just a frivolous farce, because it is meant to be so, but that it reveals
areas of ignorance in the audience. Harkin and Shaw both disliked it, Shaw going as
far as calling it 'hateful' directly to Wilde's face. In reaction to Shaw, Wilde said he was disappointed in him. Presumably meaning
that Shaw had missed something.
Eric Bently interprets Earnest
as ironic. He said that it should be defined, "as 'almost a satire'" and that it is,
"Forever on the point of breaking into bitter criticism. It never breaks."
There are other kinds of satire.
It is these two positions between Bently and Shaw which makes it
possible to see the line that Wilde's play has drawn. That line is between
those who can see the purpose of the play by their own choice and those who
do not desire to see it, or who cannot. This intellectual line fits perfectly
into Wilde's values and politics.
Overall it is farcical, absurd, and satirical in a Horatian sense.
All his characters have qualities to be criticized, but none of them are
malicious in the least. Their continual forgiveness towards other people is
unreal and they naively ignore the potential impact of their concepts on society,
but it is the true measure of their character that you feel they are good.
What Wilde has done is create a world were everyone can wrong each
other, but where love - of a kind - rules the dynamic. The happy ending can in one
sense be seen as the synthesis of the characters innate goodness and nievety
which come about without the interfering of charity.
A second overall aspect involves Wilde's parody of the comedic forms such as the
foundling motif, the coincidences, and the happy endings. While the whole play
mocks the social standards of the day. there are many points at which he mocks
his culture directly.
Algernon comments, "More than half of modern culture
depends on what one shouldn't read." Which shows his sympathies for taboo culture
while also for the necessity of fitting into the social conventions - even when mocking it. At the
beginning of the second act Miss Prism spells out the convention as Wilde sees it,
"The good end happily, the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means."
Wilde did not believe in acting in society's interest, but in one's own
interest - which will benefit society eventually. So it is possible to see his
mockery as 'in-joking' with himself, which might be witnessed over his shoulder
by society. Perhaps this is why he didn't bother to convert Shaw from his
misunderstanding of Earnst.
The main vehicle which Wilde uses to make his, "trivial comedy for
serious people" was the use of epigram. It is the source of his lasting fame and of
his deeper purpose. To break down his intricate weave of his epigramatical
thinking is counterproductive, in the sense that it is a continual and massive
flow of humour and ideas. But for the sake of his deeper message there are
certain extractions that can be made. Each is meant to be targeted against
the very one who's speaking.
To cite only a few, "Algernon: Really, if the lower orders don't set
us a good example, what on earth is the use of them? They seem as a class, to
have absolutely no sense of moral responsibility." Here Wilde has sent up how
the upper classes claim they represent the moral standard in society, and
here it shows a complete disregard for the innate responsibility that they claimed.
Here we are shown a contradiction in marriage, "Algernon: If I get
married, I'll certainly try to forget that fact." Marriage becomes a pointless
act given the truth of this absurdity.
But what is fundamental to Wilde's message are the enormous number of
instances where people's personalities and decisions are judged by things
which they have no control over. This, it seems, is the most pervasive critique
by Wilde.
There is the statement by Jack, "Some aunts are tall, some
aunts are not tall. That is a matter that surly an aunt may be allowed to
decide for herself. "
Then there is the evolutionary allusion "My
dear fellow, it isn't easy to be anything nowadays. There is such a lot of
beastly competition about."
The pretense that things out of our control are actually within
our control, brings the issue back to the name of Earnest: Gwendolen and
Cecily are the focus of the issue. Gwendolen: " We live, as I hope you know,
Mr Worthing, in an age of ideals. ...my ideal has always been to love someone
of the name of Earnest. ...The moment Algernon first mentioned to me that he had
a friend called Earnest, I knew I was destined to love you."
Then we have Cecily acting as though her admitted fantasy of her
engagement to Algernon (Earnest) were real and that Algernon bore a
responsibility for actions taken in his name. " Cecily: ...I hope your hair curls
naturally, does it?" Aglernon: "Yes, with a little help from others." Cecily:
" I am so glad." Algernon: " You'll never break off our engagement again, Cecily"
Cecily:" I don't think I could break it off now that I have actually met you.
Besides, there is of course the question of your name." Algernon: " Yes, of course.
" Cecily: " ...It has alway been a girlish dream of mine to love someone whose name
was Earnest. There is something in that name that seems to inspire absolute confidence."
Earnest-ness, an ideal of the Victorian era. It means more than that
for Wilde. It means being at the mercy of accidents and incompetence - it means
the shallowness of the modes directing our destiny and by that, the 'depth' of
shallowness. If Wilde can be complemented on anything in his short career it
must on the appropriateness of his name. Which is to say he could not help
being as brilliant as he was, or as perverse as he was.
Wilde himself flattered people for anything, in other words for what they
were due to fate. But it was only to avoid drawing a blank in conversation. When
people came to him for help, financially or personally, he was known to give help.
However, on one occasion a man brought in a friend who was suicidal and Wilde refused to
intervene.
This was the essence of his values. Society could only be socialist when
the desires and development of individuals could be supported according to their
natural inclinations. And through a play like The Importance of Being Earnest
society could find what it needed through the struggles of the individuals
contained within. Wilde is such a commendable name.
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